Being a Marauder Has Its Perks
by karakcotter
Summary: The Marauders meet each other for the first time when starting their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Reviews are really appreciated so I can improve my writing!
1. Olivander's

***Note: Hi, this is my first real fanfiction, and I'll be updating it quite often, so enjoy! **

**Characters and a couple lines of dialogue belong to JK Rowling and the vague storyline as well. Thanks!**

James Potter received his Hogwarts acceptance letter on June 15th. Not that he was surprised of course, the Potters were a prominent pureblood wizarding family, and it would have been a shock had the letter not come. Nevertheless, it was a cause to celebrate, so they had decided to go to their favorite restaurant, the Flick and Feast.

"James, we are so proud of you!" his mother said happily, smiling at her only child.

"Thanks, Mom, it'll be fun". James replied, paying more attention to the soup that was on its fifth magical refill than he was to her. In reality, he was really only looking forward to the fun parts of Hogwarts, school had never really been his favorite thing.

His Dad smirked "Don't get into too much trouble now" he said, grinning "you know what they say, 'a little mischief is fun in class until it comes to kick you in the-"

"Don't finish that thought or I'll charm your coffee to spill on you tomorrow!" His Mother interjected, holding out her wand. James always liked his Mom's wand better than his Dad's, hers was a long willow body with a unicorn hair center, while his Dad's was a short dark oak, and who even knows what core was in that thing.

James finally looked up from his soup. "It'll only kick you in the ass if you get caught!"

"That's my boy" James's Dad clapped him on the shoulder while his Mom sighed and put her hands over her eyes.

"And you two are my boys. Boys that need to watch their mouths!"

"Oh come on sweetheart, you know we were only teasing"

"Yeah, if I really had a bad mouth, we both know it would've been soaped a long time ago" James piped up "I just couldn't let it go without being sure I had the right word in mind" .

His Dad snuck him a wink, and soon they were talking about Hogwarts again.

"Dear, let's take James to Diagon ally next week, he'll need a proper wand, and robes, and we can check out our old cauldron, but chances are it's worn out from all our old potions going awry." His Mother had begun making a list on her napkin.

"Mom, aren't we forgetting something?"

She paused, then scribbled down something along the lines of "need to get book list"

"No no, not a book list, a birthday present? Ringing any bells?"

"Oh yes! We did promise you a broom didn't we?"

And they had. Back on James birthday, he had made the decision to become a quidditch player, but of course that required a broom, which he still needed to get.

"What position are you thinking about playing?" His father asked. "Personally I always liked playing Keeper, kept me on my toes the whole game".

"I kinda like the idea of a chaser, but I'm not totally sure yet."

"Ah, star of the show, I see how it is" his Dad grinned.

"Nothing wrong with that! Every show needs a star." James shot back.

"I wish we had friends with children your age James" His Mother said "I know you're great at making friends, but it will still be a little strange to go alone".

" Come on sweetie, don't talk like that, we both know James can hold his own at old Hogwarts."

"Oh I know, I just worry."

"Guys, I'm sitting right here, good to know you have such strong faith in my friend making techniques."

"We're just kidding, we know you'll do fine" His Dad smiled at James, before shooting his wife a look.

"Who's the headmaster there now anyways?" James questioned between bites of ice cream that had just appeared. "Didn't Dippit just leave?"

"Yes, I do believe it is Dumbledore now, I had him as a teacher when I was at Hogwarts, he's going to be a great headmaster." His Mother said, returning to the list she had begun making, adding expanding suitcases to the list.

"Also I need some quidditch robes, and a helmet, and I think I want the Nimbus 1967, it's the newest model" James started rambling on about the specs of the new broom while his Mom tried to think of more things her boy would need for school. He was twelve now, and although old enough to go to Hogwarts, she wanted to make sure he had everything he could possibly need.

"Yeah the Chudley Cannons all rode CleanSweep fives this year, but I think the nimbus will be perfect for me." James looked smug, confident that he had made his case, and he had, because his Mom had put it on her list, and his Dad was looking proud.

His parents were older, and since they had the means to do so, they pampered little James. No doubt he would have the best quidditch gear on the field.

With a small pop the bill appeared on the table, and the finished plates started cleaning themselves up.

"Well", his Mother said "I believe that's our cue to leave" She left a few Galleons on the table, offered James her arm, and with a loud crack, they both disappeared as suddenly as the bill had come. Seconds later, his Dad vanished with a similar noise, and the restaurant was free to continue cleaning the table.

Monday, three days after the letter had arrived, the Potters went to Diagon alley. Diagon ally was a vibrant, bustling town filled with swirls of color and snippets of interesting conversation. James couldn't be happier. He clutched his trainer wand and wove through the crowd ahead of his parents. The trainer wand only did three spells; lumos, nox, and expelliarmus. He had mastered them forever ago, and would often absent mindedly walk through the house with the tip of his wand lighting up and going dark. As Olivander's grew closer, James got more and more excited. They say that the wand chooses the wizard, and what wand wouldn't want him?

"James! Wait up! We really can't move as fast as you!" His mother said breathlessly. A few steps behind her, his Dad nodded an agreement.

James flopped down on the steps of Olivander's and waited. A tall, curly haired boy walked in with an uptight looking mother, and a greasy haired short kid slinked in next, while a cute redhead girl bounced in, clearly with the slimeball, though James couldn't figure out why. He kept thinking about her while his parents inched closer. She _was_ cute, but she didn't even give him a second glance. That's what made her different.

"Alright son, ready to get a real wand?" His Dad said, a bit wearily. His parents really were older than most.

James shot off the step "You bet I am!" He flew into the store, almost running into the uptight mother, who just harrumphed and turned back to the curly haired boy, who was now talking to the other two kids who had walked in ahead of him.

"I'm Sirius Black, what are your guys' names?" He said, clearly happy at how displeased his Mom looked.

"I'm Severus, and this is Lilly" The slimy kid replied, gesturing to the girl.

"Oh cool, are you guys siblings?" Sirius asked.

"Oh gosh no!" Lilly laughed. "I'm from a muggle family, and he's a- what do you call it? Pureblood? I think that's the name." James detached himself from his parents and walked over to the group.

"I'm James. Are you all first years?" They all nodded. "Awesome! Me too! I'm so excited to go to Hogwarts, I hear it's bloody amazing."

Sirius looked at him. "Where are you going, if you've got the choice?"

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad- you got a problem with that?"

Severus scoffed. "No. If you'd rather be brawny than brainy."

"Hey! I want into Gryffindor too!" Sirius glared at Severus. The uptight mother looked faint.

"What are you talking about?" Lilly chimed. "They all sound like rather silly names". Severus started to open his mouth to explain, when Olivander finally emerged.

"Ah first years! I remember when each of you got your first wand". He pointed at all the parents. "But! This is about the children now isn't it?" I'll pull out a wand, you wave it around a little bit, and you'll know if it's right."

He started pulling boxes off the shelves and handing them to the children. First try, Severus's wand threw out some golden sparks.

"Ah very good, that's what you're looking for kids" he went over and started telling Severus the details of his wand.

"So, Lilly", James tried to act nonchalant. "First time to Diagon ally?"

"None of your business! I don't need you two making fun of me for being muggleborn." Sirius looked offended. "I would never judge you for something like that!" He said, while his mother made a funny choking noise.

"Yeah, I mean as long as we're all wizards and witches here, it doesn't really matter right?" James replied.

"Well fine then. Yes this is my first time to Diagon Ally, and yes I'm here with Severus because he's my best friend."

"Well didn't ask for that much information but alright" James joked. Sirius gave him a high five, and when they looked back, Lilly was already back at Severus's side, while he gave the two boys dirty looks.

"Bit touchy isn't she?" Sirius remarked.

"Yeah looks that way. Why she's with that slimeball is a question we may never know the answer to."

"You're alright man. Want to sit next to me on the train?"

"Yeah I'm down for that" James was secretly relieved, he had imagined himself sitting all alone on the train ride in the fall.

"As long as we don't have to sit with that weirdo, I'll sit with anyone." Sirius laughed, grabbing another wand. It spit out red sparks, and he tossed it back into the case. James grabbed one at the same time Sirius did, and as they waved them, a waterfall of golden sparks poured out of the tips.

"That was wicked!" James exclaimed, accepting another round of high fives from Sirius, and then his parents.

"That's a beautiful wand James!" His mother took it to look at it closely, much to James's displeasure. Olivander delicately took the wand.

"Oh this is an exceptional wand. Great for transformation. 11" Mahogany, with a very powerful core. Yes, this will be perfect for you."

James was glowing. He could do proper magic, and whatever he wanted. And transfiguration! That was so cool! He decided to borrow his parents' old schoolbooks when he got home.

His parents steered him out, and with one last wave to his new friend, the Potters were back on a shopping expedition.


	2. Platform 9 34

That summer was a relatively uneventful one, and James spent most of it flying around their house. It was a large property in the countryside, with enchanted borders so that only those invited could come in. James became pretty skilled with a broomstick, and had his parents take turns throwing balls in the air so he could swoop around and catch them. He did end up taking his parents old schoolbooks, and he proved to be quite good at transformation. He could turn the family rat into a wine glass, the couch into a cow, and once accidentally turned his bed into a car. That was an interesting day. Mostly though, he just dreamed of the pranks he would play at Hogwarts. There were endless possibilities.

But the summer couldn't last forever, and so, on a cool day in September, James packed his trunks and got ready to go.

"My baby boy is all grown up" His mother said tearfully "It's like only yesterday we were teaching you how to spell Hogwarts, now you're going to be there!"

His dad just smiled. "You just have to promise you'll write at least once a week, and not about the trouble you're sure to cause!"

"Hey that's going to be the most exciting part of my week!" James could hardly contain his excitement.

"Oh honey, you're going to learn so much, Hogwarts is amazing. Dear, do you remember when we were head boy and girl?" His parents momentarily lost in a wave of nostalgia, James took the chance to lift his trunk onto the cart. They had to call a taxi because apparating into a public place never turned out well.

"Hey mom, dad, taxi's here!"

"We're coming!"

His Mom carefully stepped up to and into the cab, with his Dad behind her. James squeezed in next to them, and as they told the cabbie to go to King's Cross station, gave a last sad smile to his childhood home.

"Off to school!" He yelled.

"Nice to see a child so interested in education" the cabbie muttered towards the back.

After the taxi ride, James and his parents set off looking for the platform on his ticket; Platform 9 3/4.

"I don't understand how muggles can wait that long to get to the places they're going." His dad complained under his breath.

"We talked about this hun, apparating into a public area attracts too much attention and could get James in trouble before he even starts."

"Yeah, let's not do that." James replied, only half paying attention. He was more focused on the fact that someone had just disappeared into the wall next to platform 9.

"And here we are" his Dad said quietly.

"James, you first, then your father, then me."

"Best to get going a bit before you hit, helps with the nerves."

James turned around and saw Slimy talking to Lilly.

"And you're sure it'll let me through?" She sounded nervous. It was adorable. Slimy comforting her? Not so adorable.

"Hey Lilly!" James decided it was time to make a move. "We can hold hands on the way though, might help both of us".

She made a face. "I'd rather hold hands with a dementor"

Severus laughed, then offered his arm, which Lilly took, and they ran through the barrier, carts clanging behind them.

"You know James," his Dad said with twinkle in his eye "if a girl is mean to you, it means she likes you."

_Yeah right dad._ James thought. _That's what people who don't get liked say to make themselves feel better._

But on the outside he just nodded and walked through the barrier, a little deflated.

As soon as they reached the other side, however, all was forgotten as he took it all in. A thousand kids with a thousand parents flooded the platform. There was a massive train that kids were filtering onto, and the tracks seemed to simply vanish in the distance. He turned to his parents.

"Go on James, we'll see you for the winter holidays, just don't forget to write!" His mom gave him a huge hug, then his father did the same.

"I love you!" James yelled, jogging away.

"And we love you!" His dad shouted back.

Then James was gone, inside the train, ready to get to school.

He wandered around a bit, hoping to find an empty compartment with little luck. He was about to give up and go to the one with the sleeping boy in it, when suddenly something large and heavy tackled him from behind.

"Hey get off!" James struggled.

"NOT UNLESS YOU GIVE ME THE MAGIC WORD" A familiar voice taunted.

"Sirius I swear I'll hex you!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Sirius said, getting up anyways "I was about to give up looking for you" he grinned, offering James a hand as the train lurched to a start.

"Yeah ditto" James replied. "You'll never guess who I saw when I was walking through the barrier!"

"Who?"

"The greasy kid, Severus, and his cute friend, I think her name is Lilly"

"Oooh Potter thinks Lilly's cute! DID YOU ALL HEAR THAT? JAMES LIKES LILLY!"

James covered Sirius mouth with his hand and shoved him inside the nearest compartment as Lilly stuck her head out of her own.

"Of course my first friend here is as obnoxious as I am" James laughed. "We should form a club"

"The club of the obnoxious first years, the upperclassmen will love us! I think we should do a secret handshake and if they do it wring the other gets to perform a jinx on them!"

"Yeah and we can do obnoxious underclassmen things like jamming people's doors and putting sticking charms to the bottoms of their shoes! And want to know why we can get away with all this?" James looked sneaky.

"Why is that, my friend?"

"Because" James rummaged around in his trunk. "I nicked this from my dad's office" and with a sweep of his hand, James was under a real invisibility cloak.

"You're bloody kidding me! This is gold! Imagine everything we can do! After curfew? No problem! During class? No problem! This is golden!" The boys were in a fit of laugher when they heard a little yawn from the back of the cabin.

They whipped around to see a very lanky, very pale boy who appeared to be waking up from a nap.

"Um-sorry- I didn't realize anyone had come in" he stammered, obviously flustered.

"No, it's ok. Um-" James tried to hide the cloak behind himself "Just out of curiosity, how much of our conversation did you hear?"

"I heard the last part, about the cloak you're trying to hide" The pale boy smiled, "You guys seemed pretty excited. I'm Remus by the way." He grinned.

"Well Remus, since you know all about our little cloak, that means you get to be in on the fun too" Sirius stuck out his hand "I'm Sirius, nice to meet you"

Remus shook his hand and stood up.

"You're lucky I'm not one to ruin fun! You have to check the back of Cabins for sleeping kids, we can be quite sneaky."

"Yeah, how did you manage to even fall asleep on this train? It's so loud! It's like when Sirius and I were in Olivander's and the sparks kept shooting things off the walls. Remember that Sirius? It's that that but it never ends!" James started to ramble. He did that a lot.

Remus looked a little scared and scratched the back of his head.

"I was- I mean- no wait. I was sick last week. Yeah, sick. Happens a lot actually." Remus was flustered again.

"Well that's good that you're feeling better in time to catch the train." James smiled. Two friends already? He was on a roll.

"Remus what house do you want?" Sirius asked.

"Well I'm hoping for Gryffindor, but with my luck it'll probably be Hufflepuff."

"Hey, even if you do get into Hufflepuff, they're awesome kids. From what I hear, they're really loyal and nice." James interjected.

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be sick if we were all together?" Sirius looked at them, smiling.

"Hey you guys literally met me 5 minutes ago, how do you know I'm not crazy or insufferable or something?" Remus looked at them mischievously.

"Cause" James replied. "Someone who was insufferable wouldn't SAY that they might be insufferable because then, their insufferable-ness would be noticed faster."

Sirius looked at him "he's mad. I knew it."

"A mad GENIUS!" James exclaimed. "I have an invisibility cloak."

"You guys are crazy. But aren't we all?" Remus smiled. "I hope we're in the same house too." As they all sat down, the train kept picking up speed. Remus and Sirius chatted while James looked out the window and smiled to himself. He had a good feeling about this year.


	3. Let's Get To Hogwarts

Disclaimer: JK Rowling is queen and therefore owns every character here.

But I know it's been a while and I have a good excuse:  
1. It's incredibly difficult to write when you're not getting any feedback.  
2. This chapter was actually done a month ago, but my Kindle that I wrote it on was acting up.

So my apologies.  
-KC

"WAKE UP"  
"WAKE UP WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING"  
James blinked open his eyes to see Sirius and Remus positioned to throw chocolate frogs at him. The frogs were still wriggling, and looked about as happy about the situation as James was.  
He jumped up, dodging a chocolate frog. "what do you two want from me!" He laughed, ducking to avoid getting hit by the other one.  
"Come on James, we're almost at Hogwarts!" Sirius looked like he could do a dance. "We're going to get sorted tonight! And we can drink pumpkin juice! And I hear the trays refill themselves!"  
"Hungry much?" Remus said, though he was eyeing the chocolate frog that was not partially squished by James's shoe.  
"You're one to talk, that frog is not as good as it looks" James said, making a face.  
The train started making an awful squeaking noise, then the boys were thrown against the back wall. As the train lurched to a stop, some hesitant mutters started to come from the halls around them.  
Suddenly, a shrill voice was heard all across the train.  
"Hello Students! Do not worry, we just need to get the brakes fixed, we forgot to put on the anti-squeaking charm before we set off. Anyhow, welcome to Hogwarts! Please gather your things and meet me on the platform outside."  
Everyone started laughing again.  
"Oh god I was sure that we had crashed or a troll or werewolf was on the train or something awful!" James exclaimed.  
"Oh god! Can you imagine a werewolf just casually sitting in the train, eating chocolate frogs or something before- RAWRRR" Sirius tore at his robes and jumped on Remus's back.  
"Ha that would be so weird. But remember? Little sick still. Please get off." Remus was looking a little pale.  
"Aw come on buddy, it was just a joke. Want my last chocolate frog?" Sirius looked a little guilty.  
"Sure, you sure I won't- RAWRRRR" and he tackled Sirius, stealing the chocolate frog and looking victorious.  
"Good thing we changed already, if we were still in street clothes, we'd be way behind, and whoever was talking seemed pretty strict." James said, before smiling "Now grab your bags boys! It's time to be sorted!"

... ... ...

They grabbed their trunks and made their way outside to meet the rest of the first years.  
"Alright, see those boats?" The shrill voice was saying. "Those are your ride into the castle."  
Murmurs rose up, then down again when it was clear that the voice was not happy with the noise swell. "I'll be riding the boats too, and if you have any questions feel free to ask"  
James just barely caught the image of a small lady with a witch's hat power walking to the dark lagoon that lay in front of him. He saw a small boy, kind of resembling a scared mouse, who looked as if he was going to pass out. A group of kids behind him pressed forward, and the poor mouse kid got caught in the wave, and was suddenly moving towards the water.  
"Well I'm bloody sure that I'm not swimming, come on, let's get going" Remus picked up his own truck, started dragging along Sirius's too. "If you want it to stay nice and dry, you'd be smart to follow me!" Remus taunted, dragging the drunk closer and closer to the black water.  
"Oi! My wand is in there" he cried. "Come on, we better go"  
James followed him to Remus.  
"You, sir, are awful." Sirius said. "That's why I like you."  
Remus smiled. "And you're the only people who have talked to me. I don't really have a choice of if I like you or not" Remus smiled.  
They all walked over and stepped in a little wooden boat with a lantern up front. There were a thousand more just like it in front of them, all lit up so the lake looked like there were fairy lights floating on the inky depths. James took a deep breath, trying to capture this moment forever. He wishes he had taken the camera his mom tried to send with him.  
He looked over at Remus, and noticed his big eyes lit up, taking it all in. Even Sirius looked a little sentimental. It was breathtaking.  
The boat lurched to a start and started to glide across the silky surface. James dragged his hand through the water.  
"Guys what's that noise" Remus said, breaking the awed silence.  
"What's what noise Remmy?" Sirius replied.  
"First, don't call me Remmy, second, it sounds like splashing"  
James looked ahead, and to his dismay, saw the mousey boy in the water, and starting to go under.  
"Guys, there's a kid in the water, we have to do something. Now."  
Without hesitation, James steadied the boat while Remus grabbed Sirius's hand, and Sirius leaned over the edge, waiting for the enchanted boat to reach him. The boy was floundering, and saw the hand from about a boat length away.  
"T-t-thank you" he gasped, half underwater.  
"Just grab my hand!" Sirius said in a calming voice, it'll all be ok"  
Then, with a flick of the wrist, some pulling on an arm, and a lot of kicking, the kid belly flopped into the boat.  
"Well" James looked down at him, grinning "I'm James, and my two counterparts here are Remus and Sirius!"  
"I'm Peter, Peter Pettigrew, thanks for pulling me out of the water."  
"Yeah what exactly happened that you ended up in there to start with?" Sirius said, now that the danger was over, he was his usual inquisitive self.  
"I got shuffled onto a boat with a couple of jerks who wanted to test out the rumors of monsters living in the lake."  
"Well glad we could help, what about your trunk?" Remus looked concerned.  
"Oh, well this kind of thing happens to me kinda a lot so I put a charm on it so that only I can pick it up."  
"That's bloody genius!" James was smiling mischievously "imagine if we did that to all the cups in the great hall"  
"Dude, I was thinking the same thing! Dude, we're basically the same person." Sirius was obviously quite pleased with his friend's idea.  
"What do you have for us Remmy? Peter?"  
"We could do it to someone's quill in class" Remus said thoughtfully.  
Everyone looked at Peter, curious to what he might say.  
"Well" he started in a timid voice "we could do it to someone's shoes while they were still wearing them"  
The rest of the boys exploded into laugher, while Peter looked proud of himself.  
"Hey man, welcome to the group" Sirius stuck out his hand, grinning. Peter took it, happily. The little boat slowed to a stop and James looked at the beautiful castle looming over them.  
"Guys, are you ready to be sorted?"


End file.
